


Sometimes I run

by Builder



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mission Fic, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sickfic, Tony Stark Has Issues, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 21:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15737760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Builder/pseuds/Builder
Summary: Tony's overconfident.  He's not over Afghanistan and the cave and the trauma.Nat could call him on the carpet.  Or she could grit her teeth and be a good friend.





	Sometimes I run

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt from tumblr. find me @builder051

“A little stealth wouldn’t kill you,” Nat says, shaking her head as she watches Tony blast a rock to dust with a repulsor beam from his palm.

 

Tony retracts his mask and rolls his eyes at her. “What do you expect? I specialize in demolition.”

 

“Well, I don’t.” Nat daintily steps over the pile of sand.

 

“Might do you some good to blow something up and get your anger out.” Tony’s metal boots clank against the stones lining the path. “Plus, why do you think Fury put me on this mission, huh? If he didn’t want stuff blown up, he would’ve picked someone else.”

 

“I’d rather he would’ve picked someone else,” Nat says flatly.

 

“And good morning to you too,” Tony shakes his head and shoots a hole through the center of a boulder.

 

“Tony, it’s an underground bunker,” Nat says, exasperated. “A Hydra base. It could still be occupied. This isn’t fucking Carlsbad Caverns.”

 

“I know,” Tony replies. “I have way more respect for national parks and family vacations.”

 

“Right.” Nat sighs and pulls a flashlight from her belt.

 

“Careful there. Might give us away with your 2,000 lumens of a portable deathstick.”

 

“Tony?”

 

“Yeah?” He sounds legitimately curious, and Nat has to bite her lip.

 

“Shut up.”

 

“I will if you will, sweetheart,” Tony says.

 

“Fine. Deal.” Nat chooses not to say anything about being called sweetheart.

 

They follow the path deeper into the cave. Nat’s light proves handy, as stalagmites cover the ground. Some have grown into thick pillars that force them to edge against the stone walls. Nat cringes as Tony’s armor scrapes across the smooth rock.

 

“Don’t look at me like that,” Tony says, wiggling back and forth. His chest plate is a millimeter too thick to fit through the space Nat’s already passed.

 

“You can’t even see my face.” Nat trains her flashlight beam on the ground.

 

“I’d be happy to make you a suit, but you’d be all, ‘it’s too loud, it’s too heavy.’” He mocks Nat’s voice.

 

“What happened to shutting up?”

 

Tony grunts and tries again to slide through the gap. “Does this armor make me look fat?”

 

“Fuck, Tony, leave it alone.” Nat doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s touched a nerve. “And focus.”

 

“Will do.” Tony draws back his hand and looses a beam of blue-white energy on the stone pillar. It breaks into chunks that tumble to the cave’s floor with a cacophony that makes Nat slap her hands over her ears. The light from the flashlight criss-crosses the ceiling.

 

“Well. There goes our element of surprise.” Nat doesn’t bother to keep the note of anger out of her voice. “I hope you’re happy.”

 

“Oh, don’t worry. I am.” Tony’s smug expression is illuminated in the glow from his arc reactor. “This is the only way in or out, right? So they’ll run right toward us as they evacuate.”

 

“That’s one possibility.” Nat points the flashlight back at the floor. “Or they could be hunkering down and readying their guns. This is Hydra we’re talking about. Human life isn’t exactly sacred to them. I doubt they have evacuation plans.”

 

“It was still a good thought,” Tony says, unwilling to accept defeat.

 

Nat sighs. “Come on.” She takes a few more steps, but a distant sound makes her stop dead in her tracks.

 

“Green light,” Tony says, bumping Nat from behind.

 

“Shush,” Nat hisses. “Listen.”

 

And there’s the sound again. Cracking. And it’s getting louder.

 

“Turn around.” Nat shoves Tony in the chest. “Go. We have to get out of here.”

 

It takes Tony a second to process. Nat pushes past him and almost trips over a rock that comes crashing down from the ceiling. The flashlight beam bounces wildly as she flails for a handhold.

 

“Hold tight!” Tony’s arm swoops around Nat’s waist and hoists her off the ground. Her boots scrape over the uneven terrain as Tony flies forward, racing toward the cave’s exit.

 

They’re nearly there when a huge chunk of the archway breaks off. Tony picks up speed, but there’s too much distance and not enough time. Another piece of rock tumbles down, and in the blink of an eye, all traces of daylight are obscured behind a pile of jagged stones.

 

“Whoa, stop, stop!” Nat yells, trying to keep Tony from colliding with the rockslide. He pulls up just short of the blockade and releases his hold on Nat.

 

She falls to her knees with a yelp of pain, but lithely springs back up. She throws the beam of her flashlight around, searching for the gleam of Tony’s armor.

 

The light catches his shoulder. He’s turned away from Nat, but he must have his mask up because she can hear his breathing, loud and ragged.

 

“What the hell, Stark?” Frustration bursts from her before she can stop it. “You trapped us! I hope you’re pleased with yourself and your fucking demolition powers!”

 

“I know, I know,” Tony says. His words are clipped, and his usual bravado is gone. “Just…Oh, geez. Oh, fuck.”

 

“Hey.” Nat grabs his metal-clad arm. “What’s wrong with you?”

 

Tony sighs shakily as Nat spins him around. “I’m ok, I’m ok, “ he breathes.

 

“Ok…” Nat squints at him. “I wasn’t gonna say you weren’t, but now that you mention it…”

 

Tony’s eyes are wide, and his lips press together in a thin line. A slight tremor shows through his armor. Nat wonders how much he’s shaking inside it.

 

Tony swallows. He opens his mouth to say something, but a wet noise comes from his throat, and he stumbles a few steps away, then hangs his head and gags.

 

Nat waits, unsure if he’ll be open to comfort or if that will make things worse. “Tony?” she asks tentatively.

 

“I-it’s fine. I just—I need—” He vomits again.

 

“Ok. Chill out.” Nat approaches him, but doesn’t try to touch. “Breathe. Get yourself under control. Then use your demolition beams and we’ll get out of here.”

 

“Yeah,” Tony murmurs. “Yeah. Ok.” He spits. “Ok.” He turns his head toward Nat. Sweat-damp curls stick to his forehead.

 

“Alright,” Nat says.

 

“I just…caves…” Tony cringes.

 

“I know. Bad memories.” Nat shrugs. “No need to explain.”

 

“Good.” Tony’s breath hitches, then he prepares to let loose with a repulsor beam from the reactor on his chest. “Because this never happened.”

 

“I have to put something on the mission report about why it failed,” Nat says.

 

“Make something up.” Tony looks at her. “That’s one of your specialties, right?”

 

Nat chuckles. “It just might be.”


End file.
